


Community Christmas Party

by Burgie



Series: The High School AU of Fluff and Good Things [6]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: 12 Days of Ficsmas, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 09:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17098001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: The Rainbow Club hosts a Christmas party for the less fortunate at the trailer park. Daine belongs to HellishSam, Viktor and Selena belong to sso_Viktor7, Ivy belongs to someone on tumblr, Roo belongs to fieldingfreja, Willow belongs to willownorthbook, and Catherine belongs to ssocatherine.





	Community Christmas Party

Hardly anyone came to Jorvik High during the last few days of the school year before Christmas break. Families were departing early for holidays, after all, so the kids had to leave early. Well, those that weren't going to be home for the holidays, anyway. As such, the school was mostly empty on this snowy day in December. Mostly, anyway, save for the rainbow-bedecked room where the Rainbow Club, the school's resident LGBT+ club, held their meetings. Louisa shyly stood at the front of the room, playing with her brown hair that had been braided by her girlfriend.

"Go on," said Lisa, nudging her girlfriend. Louisa let her hands fall to her sides and cleared her throat a little.

"Alright, so," said Louisa, though her nerves still jangled. "I've had an idea for how to make this Christmas better for everyone. Inspired by Daine, actually."

"Huh?" Daine, sitting at the back of the room on a beanbag with his boyfriend Ydris snuggled up next to him, raised his head at the mention of his name. "What'd I do?"

"Your new living conditions inspired an idea," said Louisa, playing with the heart necklace that Lisa had given her for her birthday two months ago. It was a pale purple heart-shaped stone dangling from a copper chain. "Just seeing all of those less fortunate, all of the people without the means to have a big Christmas dinner, I thought it'd be a nice idea to put on a big Christmas party for them."

"Sounds good to me," said Alex, who was similarly snuggled up to her girlfriend, Willow. Louisa wished that she could snuggle up with her girlfriend, but no, she had to give this speech, share her idea, and then she could sit down.

"I'll help you cook," Viktor offered. Louisa beamed at him, remembering when her shy friend had barely spoken up, keeping his nose buried in a book on mythological creatures. Now, he also had a rainbow-striped beanbag that he was sharing with his boyfriend, Darko.

"Just remember the vegetarian options," said Ariana, leaning against the wall with her arms folded over her chest. Rania, her girlfriend, leaned against the wall beside her, one foot resting against the wall while her seeing-eye dog Dellingr rested at her feet.

"Right, yes, can't forget those," said Louisa, her fingers now dragging her heart pendant back and forth along the chain of her necklace.

"You don't have to do that for me," said Daine, struggling to sit up properly in his beanbag (he failed, Ydris taking the opportunity to pull his boyfriend into a tighter hug).

"It's not just for you," said Louisa. "It's for everyone, the whole community. So that everyone has a place to come and be happy, safe from prejudice, from homophobia, transphobia, racism, anything like that."

"I think it sounds like a great idea," said Leila, the teacher who was here to supervise and also the one who'd helped found the club back when she'd been a substitute. "And of course, I'm sure the school will be willing to spare some money for a charity."

"Or we could have a bake sale," said Ivy, the pink-haired girl with a nose ring who came to every meeting and cooked for every bake sale.

"Even better," said Viktor, nodding.

"I'm sure the people of the trailer park will love it," said Ydris, his voice rumbling through Daine's chest from his position holding Daine against him. It was a very nice feeling.

"Sweet, let's start planning," said Louisa. "It'll be on Christmas Day, of course, if you guys can spare the time away from your families. Or... actually, bring your families! As long as you know they won't judge."

"Mama can cook," said Viktor, his eyes lighting up. Darko grinned at that too.

"If Selena is cooking, this will definitely be an excellent party," said Darko. "Or, at least, the food will be excellent."

"Oh, I can set up the party," said Roo, the red-haired girl who was somehow Willow's best friend despite how different the two girls were.

"No drinking," said Willow, giving her friend a serious look. Roo huffed.

"Fine," said Roo. "No drinking."

The days passed fairly quickly, the club holding a bake sale with rainbow-frosted cupcakes and rainbow-striped cookies (there were also stripes of the other pride flags, to make it fair) baked by Ivy, Louisa, and Viktor in one large baking session that had seen not one of them escape without food dye on them somewhere. That had been a great day. And, of course, there were some gingerbread cookies, too.

And at last, it was Christmas Day. Daine awoke in his boyfriend's arms, still feeling a little strange to be waking up beside his boyfriend in his water bed and not have to worry about anything other than extricating himself from Ydris' grip without waking his boyfriend. But this time, perhaps because of the inherent spirit of Christmas, Ydris was already awake and gazing at him with bicoloured eyes.

"Good morning," Ydris murmured, his voice rough from how early it was. Daine leaned across the short distance and kissed him, closing his eyes for a moment. But he didn't feel sleepy at all.

"Morning," Daine murmured against his boyfriend's lips. Ydris kissed him again, kissing over his face until Daine laughed and sat up, grinning down at his sleep-ruffled boyfriend.

"If we wanted, we could-" Ydris began, but Daine held a finger against his boyfriend's lips, smirking.

"I want presents," said Daine. "Move so I can get out of bed." Ydris huffed.

"Fine," said Ydris, rising from his bed and causing the water bed to move around with Daine on it. Daine rode out the waves, feeling like a kid. For the first time in ages, really.

Daine followed Ydris out to the main area of the trailer, glad for the warmth that quickly swept through the small space from the electric heater. He was still glad for his bed socks, though, and the jacket that he grabbed from beside the bedroom 'doorway'. Already, this place felt like home, and it hadn't even been a year. Only a few months, really.

The two sat down at the booth seats, the table decorated with wrapped gifts, and picked out their presents to and from each other. It wasn't entirely like the old Christmases back when Daine had lived with his family (Ydris' Christmas tree was a little tiny plastic one that sat on the table), Daine found that he didn't mind. Tearing into the wrapping paper and bringing out CDs, socks, sweaters (including a leaf-patterned teal hoodie that Daine immediately loved and pulled on), even a box of art supplies and brand new sketchbook that Daine cried over, was so much better than the anxiety that always came up when he was with his blood relatives. He couldn't even show much emotion in front of them, because boys didn't cry. But, though Ydris was concerned when the tears started, Daine was able to quickly reassure him that he was happy. Beyond happy, really. Ecstatic.

"Are you sure that you're feeling okay about today?" Ydris asked, holding his boyfriend's hand after as they ate breakfast (pancakes) at the booth seat where they'd pushed the tree and remaining gifts for Ydris' mother aside.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Daine after swallowing a bite of pancake. "Honestly, I feel more relaxed than I ever have before at Christmas."

"Even though you are... without your family?" Ydris asked, hoping that he wasn't stomping on a wound. But Daine shook his head.

"That's why I'm so relaxed," said Daine. "I don't need to worry about... anything, I can just spend the day with you. And then have a big dinner with my closest friends where I won't have to worry about homophobic assholes."

"That is a most excellent way of looking at it, my phoenix," said Ydris. The nickname had come about after Ydris had given Daine a lovingly thought-out speech about how he'd risen from the ashes of his past life to begin anew, like a phoenix. "We could even spend all day in bed together, should we wish. Listening to those new albums, kissing, snuggling under the sheets..."

"You know, I always thought that having sex with you would make you less insatiable," said Daine.

"You thought wrong," said Ydris, grinning. Daine rolled his eyes, though he smiled.

Elsewhere, after the Christmas gifts had been opened and cooed over, a handful of other people were rather busy. The food had to be made, tables and chairs had to be unloaded, a space had to be set up, and of course the music had to be organised, and the sound systems...

"Next year, let's start planning this weeks in advance," said Louisa, her hands on her hips as she stood in the snow at the site of the dinner. The tables and chairs were already set up, though Lisa was still struggling a little with the sound system.

"Good idea," said Leila, who was overseeing operations. "An event this big should take weeks of planning."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the best at planning," said Louisa.

"Then it's a good thing you've got us," said Leila, checking her checklist again. "I think we have enough chairs and tables now."

"It looks like it," said Louisa, though she still chewed on her lower lip. "I really hope so, anyway. Alright, I've gotta get to Vik's house to help him and Selena cook up a feast. See you two tonight?"

"I'm not going anywhere," said Lisa, looping her elbow through her girlfriend's. "As The Pussycat Dolls said, I'm gonna stick with you forever." Louisa laughed, blushing at the terrible joke.

Viktor's house was a warm beacon of wonderful smells, happiness, laughter, and Puerto Rican music. Louisa greeted her best friend with a hug before she joined Selena in the kitchen, where Phantom and Champion were trying their hardest to get some of the good food.

"Darko is trying to keep them distracted, but I don't think it's working," said Viktor.

"Should've brought King, then," said Louisa. "But oh well, it’s too late now. Let's just try our best with what we've got."

Cooking with Viktor and Selena did, admittedly, relax Louisa a hell of a lot more than anything else could. Just joking with her friend, singing (or trying to sing) along to music when the lyrics were in a different language, and dodging the snapping jaws of hungry dogs (and, a few times, receiving a bite to the ankle from a cranky kitty named Glory). It was a little chaotic, but this was the kind of chaos that Louisa could embrace.

And, at last, as night fell, the weather cleared up perfectly for the Christmas dinner. Louisa set out the dishes, cooked chickens and turkeys and ham and pork, but also some vegetarian options like green beans and salads and roasted vegetables. There were even some pumpkin pies for dessert, along with chocolate pie, pecan pie, and, of course, the puddings and gingerbread houses. But Louisa was still nervous until people began showing up, their winter clothing a little worse for wear with ragged sleeves, holes in the sweaters, and patchy-looking beanies that had definitely seen better days. Louisa's heart went out to them.

"Come and take a seat," said Louisa. "There's plenty of food for everyone." Tears filled her eyes as more people joined, some young, some old, a lot looking nervous, some even had babies with them. "The only condition is that you treat others kindly and fairly. We're all equals, in the end, whether straight, gay, any of the other sexualities, transgender, whichever gender you identify with, no matter the race, no matter anything... we're all human, and we all need to eat. And nobody deserves to be alone during the holidays. So just eat, be merry, and enjoy the good food and good company. That's all I ask." She was glad, now, for Rania helping her with that little speech. Especially as the people took her instructions to heart and sat down to begin eating.

"Well, well, well," said Ariana, coming up to stand beside Louisa at the head of the table. "You really pulled it off, didn't you?"

"I think I did, yeah," said Louisa, rubbing her arm nervously. She breathed out a huge sigh of relief. "This is... nice."

"I'll say," said Willow, coming up on the other side of her friend. "Look at them, they're all so... happy." And they were. Louisa was glad to see smiles on faces, even on Daine, who rarely used to smile. But now, he seemed to smile easier. The couples all sat together, Ydris with Daine, Viktor with Darko, Roo with Linda, Catherine with Justin, even Ariana sat down with Rania and Willow with Alex so that they, too, could dig into the delicious food. Ariana helpfully told her girlfriend what everything was, not even minding when she had to cut some of the meat for her girlfriend despite being vegetarian. Selena helped to serve, too, of course, until Viktor finally convinced his mother to sit down beside him and eat some of the food herself. Christmas music swirled around them as candles flickered on the table and in huge lanterns surrounding the space. A few dogs tried to get underfoot, snuffling around for scraps, but nobody minded them too much, too caught up in the festive atmosphere. And at last, Louisa took a seat with her girlfriend, the nerves having finally dissolved enough to allow her to eat.

By the end of the night, almost everyone there was wearing Christmas cracker hats over their beanies. Daine's was purple. He smiled as he linked hands with his boyfriend under the table, glad that he could even though he didn't dare put their linked hands on the table. The happiness overflowed as he looked around at all of his friends, at all of these happy people. He'd... inspired this, he'd indirectly made this happen. And to think that last year, he'd ended up here after a family dinner that had almost seen him admit to something that would have gotten him kicked out for sure. And then he had been, and...

"Are you alright?" Ydris asked, seeing a tear streak down Daine's cheeks. Daine turned his eyes to his boyfriend, eyes still burning with unshed tears as he grinned.

"I'm happy," said Daine, his heart feeling as though it might burst. "I caused this, I..." He leaned into his boyfriend's side, trying to compose himself enough to speak. "After how miserable I was last year..."

"You have inspired a great thing, my phoenix," said Ydris. "Perhaps even a great tradition, should your friends decide to repeat this next year."

"I hope they do," said Daine, speaking around the lump that had formed in his throat. "It's a good thing."

"A most wonderful thing indeed," said Ydris.

Further down the table, a similar conversation was occurring between another two boys.

"This is... nice," said Darko, his hand linked with Viktor's on the table.

"It is," said Viktor while his mother chattered to the woman who sat beside her. "This is what Christmas should really be about, you know. Spending time with loved ones."

"A community spirit," said Darko. "They all look so... happy. It's almost strange."

"How so?" Viktor asked.

"Well, where I come from, when poor people get together, there are... difficulties," said Darko, putting it lightly so as not to bring the mood down too much.

"Maybe there's magic in the air this year," said Viktor.

"The spirit of Christmas," Darko mused. "So that's what that means." Viktor smiled, resting his head on his boyfriend's shoulder.

"We should've had something like this where I live," said Alex, who had eaten so much that she felt a little sick. Her girlfriend had eaten more responsibly, of course.

"You mean you don't have this?" Willow asked. Alex shook her head.

"Nope," said Alex. "Mama has to work extra hard around Christmas to be able to afford food and presents. We've never had a fancy spread like this, but we've never exactly starved. I've known some less fortunate families, though."

"I'll talk to her about it," said Willow. "I'm sure she'll agree to it."

"She's a real saint, that one," said Alex. "Too good for this world."

"Some might say the same about you," said Willow. Alex smiled at her, leaning in to kiss her.

"Have you been taking pictures?" Justin asked further down the table, taking a break from chatting to the elderly woman beside him who had such interesting stories about her childhood and her seventeen cats and many grandchildren.

"Of course," said Catherine, holding her camera up. "After asking their permission, of course." This night was so special, she just had to capture it on camera for the school newspaper. A large act of kindness, put on by a club from their very school, inspired by one of their students. The fairylights overhead, strung between poles that had been erected around the site, only added to the magical aura.

"I think we can safely call this night a success, babe," said Lisa, leaning into her seat beside her girlfriend.

"Thank goodness," said Louisa, letting the word out in a sigh. "I was so worried."

"I know," said Lisa, rubbing Louisa's hand. "You can finally sleep again." Louisa laughed, not denying that she hadn't exactly been sleeping lately out of worry for this event. But, like Lisa had said, it had turned out fine.

Maybe they should do this again next year. And every year, even after they'd finished high school. A community Christmas party for the less fortunate. It had a nice ring to it. And it would have the added benefit of proving to everyone, once and for all, that the gay community, at its heart, was one of love, of acceptance. Of equality for all, and kind acts. That was the kind of mark that Louisa wanted to leave on the world.

And then, someone began to sing Christmas carols. More voices raised up to join that one voice, young and old, no matter their singing level. And of course, there were some voices that were better than others (Rania, for example, sang like an angel, as did one of the little old ladies), but nobody seemed to mind. What they lacked in skill, they made up for in sheer enthusiasm. And the Christmas spirit spread until all present would later swear that it felt as though they’d been wrapped in a warm hug. It definitely wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.


End file.
